Make all cellphones hands-free, ban texting

In last week’s edition, you included a letter from a driver who had experienced a crash due to another driver using a cellphone while driving.

The following day there was news on the radio that “There was no evidence that cellphone use while driving increased the risk of a traffic accident.”

That was patently rubbish. I stood at an traffic light intersection in Atlanta last week and had to wait while the traffic released from the light at the previous intersection passed my position.

The speed of this traffic, by the time it passed me, was about 50 mph. Ten cars passed through; eight of the cars were driven by drivers on their cellphones. Texting only makes the risk greater.

There is talk of a federal law that will outlaw texting while driving. Why not a federal law that makes it illegal to market a cellphone without a hands-free attachment and then withdraw the license of anyone carrying a cellphone in their hand while driving?

No police officer should be placed in a position of having to decide, in a matter of seconds, if a driver with a cellphone in their hand is talking or texting.